She gave a single nod. “Tell me of your noorestones.”

“Surely you already know all about them,” I said. “From your spies.”

“Certainly. But they can only tell me so much. You, on the other hand, grew up with these crystals. Tell me about them.”

As I reached for the satchel on my hip, a guard came to life—moving toward me—but the empress held up a hand and he fell back into position. I removed the small noorestone and cupped it in the palm of my hand.

We’d stopped walking, and now she looked into the bright crystal. “It is beautiful.”

I flattened my hand and held it toward her. “Hold it, if you want. It’s not hot.”

With her same careful movements, she plucked the noorestone from my palm and turned it in her fingers. “We have no need for these,” she murmured. “Our magic is more than sufficient. But still, such light pulled from the very bones of Noore . . .”

“Noorestones have an inner fire,” I said. “In stable noorestones like this, energy trapped within is released as light. They’re perfectly safe.” It seemed unwise to tell her about the strange substance Altan’s people had poured onto regular noorestones to make the energy transfer into Aaru. It wasn’t her business, and I didn’t know what they’d used, anyway. “Most people can’t hear it, but there’s a soft hum that comes from within the crystals. It vibrates, imperceptible to most of us, but its frequency causes the energy to release as radiant light.”

She offered the noorestone back to me. “And that is how you manipulate it? By changing the frequency at which the stone vibrates?”

That sounded a lot more technical than what I felt when I connected with noorestones, but I nodded, because it was as good an explanation as any.

“Show me.”

I glanced at the guards nearby.

“They will not interfere,” she said.

With a nod, I opened myself to the noorestone. Immediately, a knot of anxiety loosened and fluttered away; my shoulders relaxed; I breathed in and hushed the stone so that it dimmed and went nearly dark. Only the faintest light glimmered from the cool blue depths. Then I urged it bright—so bright that even when I squeezed my hand into a fist, the light blazed out from between my fingers.

The empress looked away, blinking to clear her vision. “That is sufficient.”

I released the noorestone, and it returned to its normal luminosity. The crystal was cool and smooth under my fingers as I placed it in the satchel, my demonstration complete. “It isn’t a trick meant to impress others, Your Eminence. I know of no one else who can affect noorestones the same way. The gods saw fit to give me such an incredible gift—to help my people, not to entertain them.”

A hint of a frown tugged at her mouth. “I understand. My apologies for imposing.”

I was actually glad she’d wanted a demonstration. It had given me the perfect opportunity to show my power, and that I wasn’t helpless while I was here.